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What should i say to my boss?

Alright, it feels like the right time. I have a pretty good job as a graphic designer for a company. I have been there for about a year. But, i am an artist at heart, its tearing me apart working full time, blah blah blah, you've already heard that all. I am ready to kick some ass, even more. I need more time, sooo...

How should i confront my boss i want part time, without getting fired??

Whats a realistic way of asking?? The thing is, i don't want to just go get a different part time job, because i make more here...need to pay bills.

Where's the groan button?
Anyway, what kind of person is your boss? Does he seem reasonable? Is he approachable? If you want something, you've gotta reach for it. Don't demand it, that would definitely be the wrong thing to do, but in my experience, if you feel its right, bring it up to your boss as a personal concern for your career and future.

Be honest and direct with the boss person. Your boss is a busy person and doesn't have time for sad sap stories and excuses. He (she?) will appreciate and respect you 100 times more if you just go for the jugular and tell be honest. Thats just based on my own experiences with the dozens of jobs that I've had anyway.

In my experience I always prefer it if people are saying directly what they want. I doesn´t makes to sense to me to have employees that aren´t content. If possible I will try to find a solution.

Working as a Art-Director/Studio leader in the ads myself I see problems with part-time work. We tried it here but the projects mostly demand full-time workers. This may be different in your firm though but I suppose graphic design work in the US isn´t basically much different from the german one.

If your boss isn't the type who will understand then you might want to start looking for a new boss. I mean, I can understand if it doesn't jive with his schedual or something, but its not a firing offence. Stay to the point but polite and you can get a lot further than you may expect.

Anyways, if you are getting paid by the hour then it shouldn't be a big deal; less time you work= less money they spend on your paycheck. I work whacky hours on weekdays, but I'm fine with it as the pay is good and the staff are great guys to work with.

Alright, it feels like the right time. I have a pretty good job as a graphic designer for a company. I have been there for about a year. But, i am an artist at heart, its tearing me apart working full time, blah blah blah, you've already heard that all. I am ready to kick some ass, even more. I need more time, sooo...

How should i confront my boss i want part time, without getting fired??

Whats a realistic way of asking?? The thing is, i don't want to just go get a different part time job, because i make more here...need to pay bills.

Thanks.

~JB

say this

"hey mr whateverhisnameis, is there anyway i can switch to part time, if not thats ok i was just wondering if the option was available."

Based on personal experience, I would say the BEST way is to not treat it as confrontational, but as a discussion. Convey your aspirations, and discuss your plans, but keep them as positive as possible. Avoid any negativity at all costs.

"I'm not getting enough time to do my own work" is far less effective as "I would like to increase the amount of time spent on my own projects". I hope this makes sense. Negative comments can end up backfiring on you (I spent many years at the same pay grade until someone told me this), so keep it positive if you can.

Also, it never hurts to have a backup plan, in the case that you do get fired for asking, although I personally think this won't happen based on what I've seen of your work. Have you already sought out a way to stay employed enough to pay the bills before you jump in neck deep? Personally, I don't think I could ever do such a thing, mainly because I'm such a wage , but also because of my responsibilities to two kids in college and my wife, so my own perspective may be skewed just a bit.

We've had some similar situations at my job (and I might end up there myself after a couple of years), and even though it's not art related, it was a fear in the beginning when people started to want it.

We had a year when several (because of a lot of people in the midtwenties, early thirties) got kids, and also because of the shift nature of my work several had kind of "Hobby" firms and extra pay through writing/craft/etc.

After the first one approached, we had several doing the same, and it was never considered a problem. What we do is that when someone wants to cut their position down a bit, we go by percent, and then we need someone else that's willing to take the rest of the percent. So that someone is sharing a poisition 70-30, 50-50, 60-40, and so on. We had several sharing their position, with a 50-50 for a while, struggling to get their own private small buisnesses off the ground. That might be something to suggest? Never was any doing that there before someone got the idea.

Make sure whatever you say is turned the positive way like Professor Az said there. A boss would prefer a direct approach than sulking and even if you use sentences that pretty much means the same, make sure to not use "can't" and all those words, because the brain finds it a negative word.

And don't go on until the point when it's starting to tear you up and shows in your work and/or attitude. A boss prefers a happy coworker producing good quality and being effective than one that's getting itchy, having its thoughts elsewhere, etc. And it's more easy than you know to detect that someone isn't quite happy in a work environment, and it's not a good idea to let the boss think you might wanna leave altogether, which he might if he starts to get the feel you don't really "have the time" to be at work.

Nights and weekends. Sorry, that's the only thing that comes to mind as a solution. You have a full time job in the art industry. This shouldn't be seen as a problem.

Of course, this is my two cents and I don't know your full story. But the above is what I was raised in when I was growing up. Get a job first. Do the fun stuff when you can.

As for approaching your boss, it is best to be totally upfront in a scenario like this. You could be jeopardizing your job, though, if your boss needs a full time person only and doesn't want the hassle of switching to two part timers to cover the vacancy.